


Between Fireplace and Family

by Mx_Meister



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Canon-Typical Ages, Gingerpilot, Gingerpilot Week 2020, Just So We're Clear, M/M, Mentions of past abuse, canon-typical Brendol terribleness, jkr is a terf, mild homophobia, soft, they're both professors, totally unedited drivel sorry, what's a plot?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:35:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25298488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mx_Meister/pseuds/Mx_Meister
Summary: Written for Gingerpilot Week 2020 Day 6: Alternate UniverseHux is the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts, and Poe is immediately smitten (let’s be honest they both are). Christmas holidays at the end of first term provide an opportunity to visit family, and family drama ensues at the Hux household.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Armitage Hux
Comments: 6
Kudos: 36
Collections: Gingerpilot Week 2020





	Between Fireplace and Family

**Author's Note:**

> Head's up that there's some making out in this but no smut! (didn't have time lol) Rating is mostly for general tone and also because I'm new at this and would rather over-rate than under-rate.

There was a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this year. Armitage Hux. Poe went around his usual pre school year chores; mostly broom maintenance and the like, since he couldn’t do that at home. All of his schedules had been made and printed  _ before _ he had arrived at Hogwarts, when he had access to a computer and printer. Nothing with electricity worked at Hogwarts. All the magic flying around fried it. But this was the twenty-first century and Poe would be damned if he was writing schedules by hand on parchment if he didn’t absolutely have to. He even had a mechanical typewriter here at Hogwarts because he was a proper muggleborn millennial and that was the best he could do under the circumstances.

But  _ damn _ did that name seem familiar. Armitage Hux. Something about it niggled at him, but any inquiries to his fellow staff has so far gotten him very little in the way of helpful information. The Huxes were definitely a British family, pureblooded, of middle prominence, which for Poe meant that he had definitely not gone to school with Armitage, since Poe had been an Ilvermorny student — a Thunderbird — and had only moved to the UK from America when he had gotten this job at Hogwarts four years ago.

Well, it would come to him in time. Or else he’d pick his new coworker’s brain about it when he finally arrived at Hogwarts.

~~~~~

Except for his interview with Headmistress Organa a month and a half ago, for which Hux had arrived by Floo Network, this was his first time returning to Hogwarts since he had graduated half of his lifetime ago. But he supposed that except for those with children of their own, very few adults ever had reason to return to Hogwarts after graduation. When it came down to numbers, a large percentage of the staff that kept the school running was house elves, with witches and wizards in teaching and administrative positions, primarily.

Hux sighed and flicked his wand, his trunk floating alongside him as he walked up the main path to the castle in the damp rain of late summer. He had told Headmistress Organa that he had some personal obligations to finish with before moving to the school for the year, but that he would be sure to arrive in time to get ready for the school year to begin, so no one was expecting him today, specifically. Honestly, he preferred it that way. To the best of his knowledge he was the only new member of staff this year, and he didn’t want to draw anymore attention to himself than absolutely necessary.

The building was familiar, but Hux knew that very little else would be the same since he had been a student in these walls. There were a couple of teachers still around from when he had been a student, but aside from that it would be all new faces. Not that it would mean much for him; his family’s reputation always preceded him. He shut the door to the entrance hall behind him and was immediately confronted by annoyed meowing.

“Very well, Millicent,” he said, another twitch of his wand letting his trunk settle to the floor. Hux opened the latch to the cat carrier on top of it, and out strolled a long-haired orange cat. She stretched luxuriously, hopped to the floor, wound between Hux’s ankles and then headed towards the stairs leading into the lower levels. “Don’t get into trouble!” he called after her, but he received only a twitch of her tail in response.

He went first to the second floor, where the Defence Against the Dark Arts professors office was located. His predecessor had left the office relatively neat, and there was no dust to be seen so the house elves had surely been by lately. Most of the shelves were empty, but there was a set of textbooks for each of the years, as well as a stack of student records, written in a cramped hand.

The desk revealed nothing of interest, a few sheets of parchment, a nearly-empty bottle of ink, and a quill that was nearing the end of its lifespan. All the better; Hux would not have appreciated his first order of business upon arrival to be cleaning up after the professor before him. He opened his trunk and unpacked the things that would stay in the office, before heading up the stairs attached to the office to the classroom above. It was much as he remembered. Large windows letting afternoon light shine into the classroom, iron chandelier and dragon skeleton hanging from the ceiling. Several more things he unpacked here before at last leaving the classroom. He had been all over the school when he was a student, but even so he did not know where his residence was going to be while here at the castle. It warranted a trip to the Headmistress’ office, to check in and get everything sorted, though Armitage found himself dithering.

Headmistress Organa had been nothing but pleasant during his interview, and obviously she didn’t hold grudges since she had offered him this job. But he and her son really had never gotten along when they’d been students together, even with several years between them in age, and he had given her hell as well —though in those days, Headmistress Organa had been Professor Organa, the History of Magic professor. Fortunately for Hux, Ben Solo had not followed in his mother’s footsteps into education and did not work at Hogwarts.

~~~~~

Poe liked to think of himself as the attentive sort, but really, it was difficult  _ not _ to notice the shock of red hair at the high table when he arrived at the Great Hall for supper that evening. There had been no red-haired member of staff at lunch earlier that day, which meant only one thing. Their new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor had arrived.

Even with Poe’s keen eyesight, from the length of the Great Hall it was difficult to tell much about him. Red hair, fair skin, dressed in dark robes. Tall, maybe, but seated it was difficult to say for certain. But the distance didn’t last long, as Poe came quickly down the main aisle of the Great Hall, mounting the steps to the head table.

“Hello,” he said cheerfully when he was standing across the table from Hux, a wide grin on his face. “Nice to meet you! I’m Poe, Poe Dameron. Flying instructor and quidditch coach.” He stuck out a hand to shake.

~~

Hux lifted his head slowly when someone addressed him from the opposite side of the table with an American accent. The vowels were softer than Hux would usually expect from an American; probably someone who had lived here for at least a few years, then. The man had messy dark hair and dark eyes that were focused intensely on him, though the eyes were not nearly as distracting as the wide smile the other man was giving him.

My, my, he  _ was _ attractive, but Hux did not believe in fraternizing with his coworkers and quickly put such thoughts out of his mind. He had no way to know if this man, this Poe Dameron, even held such interests.

“Armitage Hux. Defence Against the Dark Arts.” He did a little lifting gesture with his fork and knife to indicate he was not intending to put them down to shake anyone’s hand right now.

“Oh,  _ shit _ , it’s you! What the hell! I can’t believe it!”

“Excuse me?”   
  


~~

Poe hadn’t realized until Armitage had lifted his head to look at him. It had been over fifteen years, but the niggling familiarity with the name had snapped into focus when those green eyes looked up at him.

But maybe his outburst had been a little uncalled for. Armitage certainly didn’t look impressed with him.

“The ‘03 International School Quidditch Cup. Semi-finals. Hogwarts Ravenclaws versus Ilvermorny Thunderbirds. I hope you know I’m still mad that you caught the snitch when we were up over a hundred points.”

~~

For someone who said he was mad, this Poe Dameron didn’t look very mad to Hux. In fact, he looked positively excited, which was… unfortunate. Hux had done everything he could to put the Quidditch days of his youth behind him, starting the moment he had graduated Hogwarts and had refused to try out for a single professional team despite his father’s insistence that he would excel at the professional level. One of the many disappointments he’d given his father over the course of his youth, starting when he had been sorted into Ravenclaw instead of Slytherin when he was eleven years old.

“That’s- ah- yes-” Hux didn’t have time to formulate a reply before Dameron came around the end of the high table and plopped himself down into the empty seat to Hux’s right, leaning forward to serve himself from the dishes available within reach.

“It’s great to see you again, really,” Dameron was saying cheerfully as Hux tuned in to his chatter again. “Never would have thought I’d see someone from back then here again. How’ve you been keeping? How’d you end up teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts? You were a hell of a seeker, you know.”

“So I’ve been told,” Hux agreed in a tight voice. “However, I was never especially fond of Quidditch.”

~~

“No?” Poe said, taking a pause to shovel some food into his mouth. “Shame, bet you could have been great.”

“Some things are not meant to be,” Hux said dryly, but Poe was not the least bit deterred. He had gotten used to these stodgy British folks and knew that sooner or later Hux would succumb to his exuberance; they always did.

“But I assume you like Quidditch?” Hux asked and Poe grinned. See! Succumbing to his charms already; or else he wouldn’t have asked him a question.

“Of course!” Poe said cheerfully. “Better than any game I ever played when I was little. I mean, it’s on brooms so it’s cooler than anything the no-majes, er sorry, muggles can come up with, but that’s not their fault.” Poe had spent most of his summer back in America visiting family and friends, and hadn’t quite made the conversion back to the British term yet.

“You don’t get much time to play as a professor.”

“No, but that’s all right,” Poe said. “I did a decade in the United States League starting right after I graduated, with the Fitchburg Finches, mostly. It was great, don’t get me wrong, but they run you hard. I was getting tired of not having any time to do other things.”

“And so you became a  _ teacher _ ?”

“Sure,” Poe said amiably. “I still get to fly all the time, I like kids, and I get summers off. Why did  _ you _ become a teacher?”

Armitage shrugged one shoulder and Poe could practically feel him clamming up. “I was overdue for a career change. This position was available and I was well-qualified.”

~~

Dameron was looking at him intensely with those dark eyes and Hux was sure that he was going to start asking pressing questions that he was not prepared to answer. But instead Dameron nodded.

“It’s good to shake things up now and then. If you’ve got any questions, let me know.”

“I went to school here; I expect I know more about the school than you do.”

Dameron grinned at him, apparently totally unperturbed. “Well in that case maybe I should ask  _ you _ if I have any questions.”

Hux scoffed. “I can’t imagine you have any questions about Hogwarts at this point that hasn’t been answered.”

~~~~~

Poe flopped onto his bed, next to the large black black cat who was sprawled out there, taking up an inordinate amount of space for a mere domestic cat.

“Beebee, he is  _ cute _ ,” Poe said, rubbing the cat’s exposed belly. The cat grumbled at having his nap interrupted and curled into a ball, though he still blinked big amber eyes at Poe. “And he plays Quidditch! Or at least he used to. I can fix that.”

Beebee gave a disapproving meow.

“Yes, yes, I know, I don’t get to  _ fix _ people. You know what I meant. Quidditch is fun! And he owes me a rematch.” Beebee didn’t seem too convinced of that either, but that was fine. Poe didn’t need to convince his cat of anything. 

~~~~~

September first was only two day later, which meant there was really wasn’t time for Poe to get to know Armitage better before the school was once again filled with students and classes resumed, but he was undeterred. It would just mean things would take longer, which he was just fine with. They had all year.

Friday evening Poe showed up at the door to Armitage’s office, knocking on the door and entering when called.

“Professor Dameron,” Armitage said, obviously surprised to see him there.

“Please, just Poe,” he said, grinning and waving a hand. “Professor Dameron makes me feel like you’re a student.”

“Ah, of course,” Armitage said, his pale complexion flushing pink. “Is there something I can do for you?”

“You busy?” Poe asked.

“I have papers to grade.”

“How can you possibly have papers to grade one week into term?” Poe asked, coming over and peering down at the stack of parchment on his desk. “Are you trying to make your students hate you?”

“My NEWT-level students are more than prepared for the course load,” Armitage said, raising his eyebrows as he looked up at him from the other side of the desk.

“If you say so,” Poe said. 

“Is there something else I can help you with?”

Poe grinned at him. “Well if the grading can wait I was hoping you’d walk into town with me and we could grab a bite.”

~~

Hux didn’t know what he had been expecting from Dameron, but it wasn’t  _ that _ .

“I- uh-” He felt his cheeks burning but Dameron continued to look at him with a smile on his face while Hux cleared his throat and tried again. “I don’t know if that’s entirely appropriate.”

“It’s just food, Armitage,” Poe said. “Rey forgot she agreed to have dinner with me and made other plans, and I have reservations. You’re not going to make me eat alone, are you?”

“Rey?”

“You know Rey,” Poe said. “About yea high, brown hair, lots of attitude, teaches Charms?”

  
“You mean Professor Niima.”

“Yeah, Rey,” Poe repeated. “She bailed. So you’ll come have dinner with me, right?”

Hux found himself hesitating. Framed like this it was almost  _ certainly _ not a date. It was just dinner. Colleagues were allowed to have dinner together; in fact they already had dinner together every night with the rest of the school in the Great Hall, so what difference did it make if they were at a restaurant and not at the school?

The difference of course was that their coworkers and the students would not be around, and Dameron was very attractive, but Hux could deal with that.

“Very well,” he agreed at last. “To Hogsmede then.”

“Great!” Dameron said, smile widening. “Let’s go!”

~~

The restaurant was called The Sail Barge Gardens, and it had not been the business occupying the building in question when Hux had been a student, though Dameron told him it had been here since before he had become a teacher at Hogwarts, four years previous.

From what Hux could vaguely remember of the dingy pub that used to occupy this space, the new restaurant was a big step up. The sconces on the ceiling had the place well lit, and the linens on the table were all white and free of creases. It was very nice, but there was something uncomfortably romantic about it as well.

“Were you supposed to be on a date with Professor Niima?”

“Date?” Dameron looked at him, bemused. “Course not. Rey and I are just friends. Besides, she’s married. But this place has the best food in town.”

“Ah, of course,” Hux said. Despite the fact that Dameron said he had a reservation, the restaurant was not especially full, and they sat themselves, Dameron leading them over to a small table along the wall. The table was a little low for someone of Hux’s height, and he was in danger of banging his knees off the underside of the table unless he stretched them out. He tried to keep his feet away from Dameron’s, but it was a small table and it was difficult to avoid his shoes occasionally brushing against Dameron’s unless he stuck his head under the table to see what he was doing —which would be much too undignified. However, if the other noticed anything, he didn’t say anything.

~~

“So what’re you having?” Poe asked Armitage, having barely glanced at his own menu when they arrived at the table seemingly of their own accord. No matter that he’d been a wizard for two thirds of his life, he’d never really gotten used to servers not coming to the table to deliver menus. Poe already knew what was written on it and what he would be having, so he set the menu down and leaned closer to peer at Armitage’s.

“I haven’t decided,” Armitage said, raising eyebrows at him. “I haven’t had a chance to look at half the things here yet.”

“Sorry,” Poe said, settling back into his seat again. It was hardly the first time in his life he’d been accused of being over-exuberant, especially by the Brits.

Across the table Armitage’s expression relaxed. “I suppose you have a recommendation, then?”

Poe grinned broadly. “The fish is excellent.”

“Very well,” Armitage agreed. “The fish, then.”

~~~~~

Their dinners together became a regular affair, the pair going out to Hogsmede once on nearly every weekend. Often they dined at The Sail Barge Gardens, but not always. It was strictly platonic, Hux would constantly remind himself. Dameron was gregarious and friendly but as far as Hux could tell he held the same demeanor with all of the other professors as well, so surely it meant  _ nothing _ .

It was less than two months into term before Hux first heard the gossip. A pair of student’s head’s swiveled to follow him as he walked past them down a corridor, but their whispers followed him.

“I’m telling you it’s  _ every _ week.”

“Him and Professor Dameron?”

“Uh-huh. Everyone says they’ve got something going on.”

Hux’s ears were burning, and he found his feet carrying him away from his planned route and upstairs, to Dameron’s office. He knocked but didn’t wait for a response before pushing the door open and entering.

Dameron was sitting facing a chalkboard with several diagrams of a quidditch pitch on it, each marked with various plays. He looked back over his shoulder and smiled.

“Armitage, what can I do for you?”

  
“Have you heard?”

Dameron turned towards him, his chair swivelling beneath him. It looked like a very… muggle chair to Hux. Black and plastic with padding and faux-leather over it. “I hear lots. You’re going to have to be more specific.”

  
“Some of the students…” Hux cleared his throat. He could feel his ears burning again. “Some of them seem to have noticed our visits to Hogsmede and are… making assumptions about the state of our friendship.”

“Oh, you mean the rumours that we’re a couple?” Dameron asked, chuckling, his dark eyes bright with amusement. “They’ve been on about that for a couple weeks already.”

Hux spluttered helplessly. “You knew?!”

“Sure, I knew,” Dameron said, shrugging a shoulder casually. “They’re kids. They gossip. And out on the quidditch pitch I hear it all.” Hux remembered; a flying instruction so often faded into the background compared to other professors, students acting more naturally on the pitch than they did in most of their classrooms.

“And you did nothing to dissuade them?”

“Dissuade them?” Dameron snorted in his attempt to stifle a laugh. “Course not. That would only make them all more convinced that it’s true. Not that I mind.”

Hux paused, unsure of how to interpret that last statement. “Not that you mind? The rumours, you mean?”

Poe looked bemused. “Course I don’t mind the rumours; they’re just kids. Wouldn’t mind if they  _ weren’t _ just rumours either, if that’s what you’re trying to get at. But I didn’t want to be too forward. You Brits get real stodgy about fraternizing with colleagues, in my experience.”

Hux found his mouth was hanging open and he closed it quickly, his back teeth clacking together unpleasantly. He wasn’t entirely sure what to say to such a casual pronouncement of interest.

“Well that’s- I appreciate the discretion, but-” Hux faltered and fell silent again, unsure what he had intended to follow that ‘but’.

“Look, you don’t have to say anything if you’re uncomfortable,” Poe said, leaning back slightly in his seat, ostensibly putting more space between them. “You’ve never mentioned any girlfriends or boyfriends so I thought you might be ace, and I didn’t want to put any pressure on, since we do have to work together and all.” Not that the flying instructor and the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor really worked closely together, but they did still have to see each other regularly.

“It’s not that!” Hux protested. “I’m just… selective about my partners.”

“Selective, hm?” Dameron repeated, leaning forward in his seat again and putting his elbows on his desk, looking up at him. “So, do I pass muster?”

“Of course.” The assurance fell from Hux’s lips before he had even a moment to consider whether or not it was a good idea. “But my parents don’t approve.” He continued on at Dameron’s inquiring look before the other had a chance to verbalize the question. “Oh, not  _ you _ specifically. Me being gay is the issue. Despite all my parent’s attempts, I am an only child and there are expectations for me to marry and carry on the family line. I have cousins, of course, so I will hardly be the last Hux no matter if I have children or not, but still they want me to carry the line.”

“Marry a woman, you mean.”

“Well… yes.”

~~

Poe huffed and stood up from his chair, arms crossed across his chest. “Can I be honest with you?”

“Of course.”

“Good.” He paused for a second, inhaling. “I don’t give a flying fuck what your family thinks of us. It’s the twenty-first goddamn century and it’s  _ your _ life to live, not theirs!”

Armitage smiled at him, just slightly. “I’ve been of much the same opinion myself for a number of years now.”

Poe grinned broadly and stepped closer, clapping him in the shoulder. “Good man! I wasn’t sure you had it in you.”

Armitage scoffed at him. “You would be surprised. My father and I cause quite a ruckus when we get into a row. I haven’t spoken with him since the last one.”

“And when was that?” Poe asked.

“Few months ago. When I told him and mum I had an interview here. Last time we really got into it we didn’t talk for two years after. Though nothing stops mother from writing regularly.”

“You get along with her better then?” Poe had never taken his hand from Armitage’s shoulder, and though his palm was growing warm he was reluctant to move it.

“My mother doesn’t have a disagreeable bone in her body, so it’s rather difficult to row with her,” Armitage told him. “Unfortunate that she doesn’t have the backbone to stand up to father, either.”

Poe nodded, making a sound of acknowledgement in his throat. Armitage’s family sounded complicated, but it also didn’t sound like he was especially troubled by his difficult relationship with his father.

“So…” he said slowly. “Does that mean our next trip to Hogsmede  _ will _ be a date?”

Armitage blushed bright pink at the question and Poe smiled widely at him.

“A date then,” Armitage agreed softly.

~~~~~

The reality was that a dinner date between the two of them was not especially different than any of their previous dinners had been, except that Hux was no longer concerned about his feet brushing Poe’s under the table at The Sail Barge Gardens and Poe no longer politely pretended not to notice, instead stretching out his own legs so they brushed together.

It was raining when they left the restaurant, but Hux pulled his wand out of his robes and pointed it above them, the water flowing away from the pair as though there was an invisible umbrella above them.

“Clever,” Poe said, tipping his head and looking up. “I never really picked up on most of the household spells like that. Fault of being a muggleborn, I suppose.”

“It’s not a difficult spell,” he said. “I could teach you.”

“You could,” Poe agreed. “And I probably still wouldn’t think of it next time I was caught in the rain without an umbrella.”

“That I cannot help you with.”

~~

The rest of the walk up to the castle was amiable, if damp. Their heads might not have gotten rained on, but Poe stepped in more than one puddle and his feet were quite damp. Though this was certainly preferable to flying in the rain.

“You’re not especially graceful for a Quidditch player,” Armitage told him after the second puddle, as he had nimbly stepped around both of them.

“I don’t have to be graceful on the  _ ground _ to be a good Quidditch player,” Poe answered, and then he grinned. “Besides, I was distracted.”

“Distracted?”

“By you, of course!” Poe said, stepping closer to Armitage and slipping his arm around his waist. Armitage blushed fiercely, visible even in the fading dusk, but he didn’t slip out of the embrace until they were well past the gatehouse and approaching the castle.

Normally they would part ways only a couple of flights up the grand staircase, as their accommodations were in different parts of the castle, but today Poe took Armitage by the hand at the top of the staircase where they would normally say goodnight and go their separate ways.

“Come back to my rooms with me?”

~~

With the routine of their normal suppers, Hux had almost forgotten that this  _ was  _ supposed to be a date. “We’ve only had one date,” he protested, though he had no idea exactly what he was protesting. He was both excited and anxious at the prospect, though it had been so long since he’d done anything like this that he didn’t know what to expect.

“You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to,” Poe said, still not releasing his hand. “It’s the weekend, Armitage. You don’t have to be up early. Come up and have a drink with me, and let me kiss you goodnight where the students won’t see.”

Hux could feel himself blushing again but he nodded. “All right.”

“Come on!” Poe’s grip on his hand shifted so their fingers were laced together, and he led them up the next flight of stairs with exuberance, practically pulling Hux after him. It was silly, and endearing and Hux let himself be dragged along, up a couple of flights of stairs until he was out of breath and panting, though Poe hardly seemed any the worse for wear.

Poe turned and grinned at him. “You’re out of shape, my friend. Need to get you back out on the pitch.”

“Certainly not,” Hux said, training and taking a steady breath, though he could still feel his heart beating quickly in his chest. “I told you, I’m retired.”

“It’s not retiring when you stop playing Quidditch at seventeen,” Poe said, leading them out of the stairwell and into a hallway. “Not unless you take an injury. It’s just quitting.”

“The quitting was my choice,” he said sullenly. “As well you know.”

“Yes, yes, your heart wasn’t really in it, you’ve told me,” Poe agreed, still tugging him along. He looked back towards him, dark eyes full of sympathy and Hux felt something in his chest lurch. He had never said in so many words that he had been pressed into Quidditch by his father who had almost —but not quite—been good enough to play professionally, and he had never been happy about not getting to make the choice himself about whether to play or not, at least until he was an adult. Had never said it, but he had the feeling that Poe had somehow parsed it all the same from disconnected things that he had said about his family and about playing Quidditch in school.

The quiet settled between them as Poe led the rest of the way to his rooms, fishing a key out of his pocket when they arrived at a nondescript wooden door and unlocking it. The door swung easily inward under Poe’s fingers, and Hux followed him inside.

It was dark inside, everything cast into shadow as the light in the corridor poorly illuminated the room that they had stepped into. But it didn’t last long. Hux heard the rustling of fabric, and the words of a murmured spell and a fire appeared crackling merrily in the hearth across the room. Another murmur and wave and several wall sconces and oil lamps around the room lit up as well.

“Boy do I miss electricity sometimes,” Poe said, shoving his wand back into his pocket. He kicked off his wet shoes by the door, but then picked them up and carried them over to the hearth, setting them down so they could dry by the fire, before plopping himself down in one of the two big chairs by the fire and peeling off wet socks.

“I’m not sure taking off your shoes helped when your socks are so wet,” Hux said, toeing out of his own shoes and making sure not to step in any of Poe’s wet footprints, as his own socks had not met the same fate.

Poe half-turned in his seat to look at the trail of wet footprints he had left. “Ah well, just water. It’ll dry.” He laid out his wet socks by the fire as well before looking at Hux and smiling widely. “Now, I promised you a drink. What would you like?” He sprung back to his feet even as Hux started to sit in the other chair by the fire and walked over to a sideboard just to the left of the hearth. There were a number of bottles and decanters of various sorts.

“What do you have for a nightcap?”

“Hmm.” Poe picked up a decanter and held it towards the light before setting it back down. “No…” he murmured, brows furrowing. Hux found himself watching, even though he was doing nothing more than searching for the right bottle. “Aha! Brandy?” He wiggled another decanter in Hux’s direction.

“Please.”

Poe poured glasses for them both and came back over to the fire, handing one glass to Hux before flopping back unceremoniously into his seat. It was amazing how he didn’t manage to spill his drink everywhere in the process.

“Thank you,” Hux said, taking a sip. It was a good brandy, and his second sip was slightly larger, enjoying the feeling of warmth move down his throat into his stomach. They had had several glasses of wine each with their supper and he really didn’t need another drink now, but he was also not feeling the least bit inclined to make an excuse to leave before Poe tried to ply him with more alcohol either.

“So,” Poe said, and Hux’s eyes came back to his, eyebrows raised in inquiry.

“So?”

  
“Do you think you’ll survive the rumours? The gossip about us is only going to get worse from here on out, you know.” Despite Hux’s discomfort about the matter, Poe obviously found the whole thing quite amusing, grinning broadly at him.

~~

Armitage huffed and rolled his eyes, slouching slightly in his seat, which Poe thought was very unlike him as he usually saw him and also very endearing.

“I’ve been trying not to think about it,” Armitage grumbled and Poe chuckled, getting up from his own seat to sit on the arm of Armitage’s chair, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“You know I’m teasing you, right?”

“I am aware.”

“Okay, just checking,” Poe said. “You’ll have to tell me if I tease too much, though.”

Armitage looked up at him and smiled just slightly. “I don’t know if that’s possible, coming from you.”

Poe laughed and leaned over, planting a kiss on the tip of his head, the only easily accessible spot sitting above him on the chair’s arm as he was. He felt Armitage’s intake of breath as his shoulder rose under his hand.

“Too much?” Poe asked.

“Not at all,” Armitage answered, his voice soft and his face flushed and he turned his head to look up at Poe. “But you missed.”

“Ah, my apologies,” Poe said. “I’ll have to try again.” He threw back the rest of his brandy in one gulp before setting the glass on the little table between the two chairs. He moved his hand from Armitage’s shoulder to the back of the chair so he could use it to balance his weight as he leaned in closer, their lips coming together.

~~

Hux shouldn’t be surprised that Poe would kiss him after he had practically dared him to, and yet, he found that it was. It had been so long since he had kissed anyone that he had almost forgotten how it went. For a moment he was still and then he relaxed into the kiss, reaching out to put a hand on the small of Poe’s back.

His mouth tasted like the brandy they had both been drinking and was warm and soft on top of his. Hux sighed heavily through his nose, his eyes falling closed as he leaned closer to Poe, deeper into the kiss.

Poe was not the least bit hesitant, his lips moving firmly against his, their breath intermingling. Poe’s fingers brushed against his cheek and Hux startled slightly, not expecting the new contact. Their lips came apart and Poe looked at him quizzically, though his expression was difficult to read with their faces so close together. “You okay?” he asked softly.

“Mm, yes,” Hux answered, voice equally quiet. “You just surprised me.”

“Good surprise, I hope?”

~~

Armitage smiled up at him. “Of course. But you’re going to get an awful crick in your neck if you keep kissing me at that angle.”

Poe chuckled. “Oh, am I? I suppose we wouldn’t want that, would we?” He stood up from the arm of the chair, offering a hand to Armitage. Armitage tipped back his glass and finished the rest of his brandy, setting the glass aside before taking the hand, Poe pulling him to his feet. Intentionally Poe pulled harder than necessary, pulling Armitage flush against him and wrapping an arm snugly around his narrow waist.

“Got you,” he whispered, giving him another quick kiss.

“And what are you going to do with me?” Armitage asked, cheeks flushed, lips bright from their kissing.

“Don’t ask leading questions like that if you don’t want the answer,” Poe warned, nuzzling against Armitage’s cheek, before starting to place a line of soft kisses along his jaw. “If you let me have my way you’re going to be staying the night.”

“You did point out that it’s the weekend,” Armitage said, tracing a finger up and down Poe’s spine through his robes. Poe dragged his tongue in a wet line down the side of Armitage’s neck and he shuddered. “I’m in no rush to go back to my rooms.”

“You’re going to tell me if I’m rushing things, right?” Poe murmured against his neck, before letting his teeth score lightly against the join between Armitage’s neck and shoulder. He shivered again.

“I know how to stand up for myself, don’t worry,” Armitage, his fingers coming up to curl in Poe’s hair, pulling his head back firmly to make Poe look up at him again. Poe sucked in a breath as his cock jumped in his pants. Fuck if he wouldn’t mind Armitage being bossy. “Take me to bed, Poe.”

~~~~~

Hux didn’t have any idea what time it was when he finally realized that he was alone in Poe’s bed. He remembered Poe kissing him and saying something about Quidditch, but he had been mostly asleep and definitely hadn’t realized that Poe was leaving.

He sat up and stretched his arms above his head, sheet pooling in his lap. The curtain wasn’t totally drawn and a crack of morning sunlight spilled into the room. Hux tossed back the covers and climbed out of bed, walking in bare feet over to the window, pushing the curtains open wider. He could see the Quidditch pitch far across the grounds, and if he watched carefully he could see the occasional little figure on a broom as they flew over the top of the stadium. He turned away from the window, picking his way across the room and collecting his discarded clothing as he went. Poe it seemed had not picked up any of his clothing from the floor either, and Hux had a brief mental image of Poe being out coaching Quidditch while naked, before giving himself a shake. He was in Poe’s rooms, obviously he had clean clothes as opposed to the clothes from yesterday.

Hux dressed and walked back out into the main room. On the desk was a teapot in a cosy with some biscuits and a quickly scribbled note from Poe.

_ Sorry I had to go, but you were too cute to wake! Tea should still be hot, the cosy is enchanted! There’s a spare broom in the closet, out the window is the fastest way to the pitch if you want to come! _

_ xo Poe _

Hux chuckled and shook his head, pouring himself a cup of tea, which was appropriately hot as promised. He sat at the table and scanned over the note again, even though it was only a couple of short lines.

Show up at the Quidditch practise Poe was coaching? Did he dare?

But the note didn’t say when Poe would be back, and Hux didn’t know if he would be expecting him to still be here or just go back to his rooms or…

Hux sipped more tea to distract himself from the indecision and then poured himself another cup from the pot, drinking that too. The third cup was bitter as the pot was nearly empty and the leaves had been in there for an unknown length of time but Hux drank it all the same. 

Well… it wouldn’t hurt to go see the practise, would it? Hux wandered over to the closet and pulled it open.

  
There was a small broom rack on the inside of the closet door, just enough for four brooms, though there was only one broom there now and by the way two of the other latches were closed it seemed to Hux that there was only one other broom in here regularly, presumably the one Poe had with him now.

The handle was shiny mahogany and when Hux took the broom from the closet the shiny gold lettering at the top of the handle glinted in the light.

_ Nimbus 2000 _

An old model now, nearly 30 years since they first went into production, but still a good broom. Hux wondered if this had been the broom Poe flew when he was in school. It wouldn’t have done him at the professional level, but it would have still been an excellent student broom, especially back when they had been students.

Hux sighed. It was unlike him to be preoccupied with someone like this. It was unfamiliar and unfamiliar things made him uncomfortable. But also… he wanted to know all the things he still hadn’t learned about when Poe was young.

Out the window… It had been a very long time since Hux had done anything as undignified as climb out a window and fly off on a broom, but the chances of being spotted were minimal and it certainly would be faster than walking all the way there. Hux grabbed a scarf and a pair of gloves from the closet —he remembered how chilly it was in the air in late October—before going over to the window, unlatching it.

It swung open easily and silently on its hinges, a sign that Poe probably did this quite regularly himself. Maybe he had even done it earlier that morning.

Perhaps it could be considered foolish for someone who had not ridden a broom in over fifteen years to mount one on a windowsill a dozen floors off the ground, but Hux was nothing if not confident in his abilities. He had not  _ forgotten _ how to fly and he was sure that Poe kept up on his broom maintenance, even for his ‘spare broom’.

He climbed onto the broom while standing on the windowsill and stepped off the edge. He dropped a few feet as the broom took his weight, but easily pulled up, getting his wand out of his robes to close the window after him, before turning the broom towards the Quidditch pitch.

The Nimbus handled easily, though Hux did not miss how damn uncomfortable it was to sit on a broom. The sooner he could get his feet on the ground the better, and he leaned low over the handle, the broom quickly picking up to full speed and the wind rushing past him. Hux had to squint against the wind, but there was an unmistakable thrill in his chest. Trains may have been fast, but they lacked the immediacy of flying. Letting the impulse take him, Hux pulled the handle of the broom up sharply, doing a loop, holding on tightly as he went upside down.

The blood was rushing in his ears when he came level again, but he wasn’t going to allow himself any more indulgences, leaning low again and zipping towards the Quidditch pitch. A couple of students noticed him when he came over the top of the pitch, but Poe was lower down, seated on his own broom in mid air and having an animated conversation with one of the students, making broad gestures with his hands and arms.

Hux put his forefinger and thumb in his mouth and whistled.

~~   
  


Poe looked up at the sound of the whistle, expecting one of the students trying to get his attention, and not a familiar red-haired figure giving him a small wave from far above. Poe grinned and waved back vigorously, before touching his hand to his mouth and blowing a kiss in Armitage’s direction.

Even a hundred feet below him he could see him blushing, and the students around the pitch all cheered and whooped.

“Give me a minute?” Poe asked the Gryffindor student he had been talking to.

“Please,” she said, turning her broom and zooming away. Poe grinned and shot upwards toward Armitage, and in only a few seconds he had risen to where Armitage was hovering, pulling up next to him so they were facing each other, thighs brushing against each other.

“Did you have to do that?” Armitage grumbled, still bright red. Poe put a hand on his knee and smiled at him, leaning in closer.

“Yes,” he said. “You’re mine now and I want them all to know it.”

“The rumours…”

“There can’t be any rumours if we make it fact,” Poe said.

“You should have talked to me before deciding that for both of us.”

“Sorry, you’re right.” Poe looked away, mouth turning down in a frown. He was better than when he had been young, but impulsivity did still sometimes get the best of him.

“It’s all right,” Armitage said, and his hand came to cover Poe’s. “It wouldn’t have been my first choice of how to do it, but it’s done now. Now go.” His hands let Poe’s and he gave him a little shove. “The students are waiting for you. I’ll find a place to sit and watch.”

Poe watched as Armitage deftly turned the broom and headed towards the stands for several long seconds before making his own turn and returning to the practise.

~~~~~

The term continued much as usual. There was one conversation with Headmistress Organa to make sure there weren’t going to be any issues remaining professional when it called for it, but after a few weeks the whispers and giggles of the students almost totally stopped, and by the time it was getting close to Christmas holidays, Hux almost felt that working at Hogwarts had always been like this; with Poe.

But as the last week of term before the holidays was upon them, an unanswered letter was growing more and more prevalent in Hux’s mind.

“I got an owl,” Hux said at last, lying in bed one night with Poe, all of the lights out and two of them ready for sleep. Or would be ready for sleep if Hux could get his brain to be quiet.

“Yeah?” Poe said sleepily, rolling onto his side and putting an arm across his waist.

“From my mother. She wants me to come home for Christmas.” Hux knew that Poe had been invited home by his own family for Christmas, but had not made a final decision, since he’d been trying to convince Hux to come with him. Hux wasn’t sure if he was more worried by the idea of spending the holiday with his own parents or with a muggle family, even if it was Poe’s family.

“Well that’s good, isn’t it?” Poe asked. “Mending bridges and all that?”

“Perhaps,” Hux said. “Though it will probably be two weeks of mother trying to be a buffer between father and I.”

“It’s up to you,” Poe said, shifting closer and nuzzling into Hux’s neck. “We could always split the holiday. Do a week with your family and a week with mine.”

“My mother will insist the week of Christmas is with her.”

“That’s fine. My family throws a good New Year’s bash.”

“I suppose that could work…” Hux agreed, and Poe kissed him on the cheek.

“Good.”

“But…”

“But?”

“My parents are unaware that we…”

Poe hummed in acknowledgement. “Haven’t done it since I was a teenager but I know how to play the ‘just a friend’ game. If that’s what you need to face your parents.”

“At least to start it might be best…” Hux said. “So they don’t start prejudiced against you.”

“All right,” Poe agreed. “So it’s a plan then?”

“Yes. I’ll write mother in the morning.”

  
“And I’ll tell my parents to expect us for New Year’s.”

~~~~~

One of the fireplaces in the Great Hall was temporarily hooked into the Floo Network, so students whose parents could not pick them up at King’s Cross for whatever reason were still able to travel home for the holiday. Hux and Poe also made use of this once all of the students who were travelling home had departed. Plenty of the other professors were staying for the holiday so there was supervision for the few students who were remaining. One of Poe’s favourite third years —a Hufflepuff beater—had agreed enthusiastically to watch Millicent and Beebee over the holiday since she was staying at Hogwarts. Probably a good thing because cats generally did not get along well with travel by Floo powder.

“I’m right behind you,” Poe said, putting a hand on the small of Hux’s back. He looked back at him and nodded, giving him a wan smile. Hux took a pinch of Floo Powder and tossed in into the fire, flames turning green. He ducked his head as he stepped into the fireplace.

“Hux manor.”

There was the familiar whirling of colour and light when travelling by Floo Network, and a moment later Hux stepped out onto the stone flooring in front of the fireplace in his parent’s entrance hall. He stepped out of the way, and it was only a moment and a whoosh before Poe stepped out of the fireplace after him.

A crack sounded and suddenly the family house elf was standing next to them, holding a little brush in her hand and dressed in a little dress and frilly apron.

“Welcome home, young master,” Norrey said in her squeaky voice. “May I brush off the soot?”

“Of course, Norrey,” Hux said, standing while the house elf scrambled up a step stool next to the hearth to brush the soot from the trip from their clothes. Poe stood uncomfortably still while subjected to the same treatment.

“Master and mistress are waiting in the parlour for you,” Norrey said when she had finished dusting them. “Your luggage will be brought up.” Another crack and both Norrey and their luggage disapparated.

“Do you not like house elves?” Hux asked.

“I don’t like people keeping slaves,” Poe answered in a low voice.

“House elves aren’t slaves anymore,” Hux said. “It’s illegal. They’re all paid and clothed and cared for.”

“And did… what’s her name- Norrey. Did Norrey belong to the Hux family before house elves were free?”

“Well, yes,” he said. “It’s only been law for twenty years.”

Poe sighed and shook his head. “Well then we’re going to have to agree to disagree on whether or not it’s okay for her to be working for your family.”

~~

Poe knew his opinions on house elves weren’t necessarily popular among wizards, especially those old pureblood families that were used to having a house elf or two around. It was how Armitage grew up, and Poe knew how difficult it was for people to change perceptions that had been formed in childhood, but it had never sat right with Poe that wizarding governments just  _ classified _ other magical species, and even those that were definitely sentient were afforded different rights than human wizards.

But there were other things to worry about right now. Like the fact that Armitage was leading the way to the parlour where Poe was going to meet his parents, and he was going to have to remember that he was just here as a friend and to mind his manners.

They entered the parlour and the two people in chairs near a fire stood. The first was a man with red hair that was starting to grey at the temples, though he was shorter and stouter in build than Armitage, he was undoubtedly his father. The second could only be his mother, though with nearly black hair and tending to the short side as well Poe couldn’t pick out a family resemblance.

“Good afternoon, father, mother,” Armitage greeted them both coolly, stopping a good distance away. Poe stepped up next to him, remember to stay far enough away that he wasn’t going to brush up against him. “This is the friend I said I would be bringing. Poe, these are my parents, Brendol and Maratelle Hux.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” Poe said. “I’m Poe Dameron, the flying instructor at Hogwarts.”

“Dameron… why is that name familiar?” Mr. Hux said, but Poe didn’t have time to say anything, before he snapped his fingers. “Of course! There was a Dameron that flew for the Fitchburg Finches until quite recently.”

“It’s been over four years since I retired from professional Quidditch,” Poe said. “People over here don’t usually recognise my name.” Which he honestly preferred compared to being in America. He hadn’t been the  _ most famous _ of Quidditch players in America, but he’d had enough of a following.

“I follow Quidditch quite closely,” Mr. Hux said. “It’s a pleasure to have you here. My Armitage was quite the player when he was younger as well.”

  
“I know,” Poe said. “We had a match once when we were both students. He was responsible for winning the match, if my memory serves.”

“That was a long time ago now,” Armitage said. “Practically ancient history. And we lost in the finals, anyway.”

“Damn shame,” Poe said. “You guys were good.”

“There will be plenty of time for that later,” Mrs. Hux said, speaking at last. “Travelling by Floo is such a messy business. You boys head upstairs and get cleaned up, supper is a six.”

“Thank you, mother,” Armitage said, inclining his head. “Come, I’ll show you where you’ll be staying.” He turned and led the way from the room, and Poe quickly inclined his head to Armitage’s parents before turning and following him from the room.

Armitage let him up a wide wooden staircase, the railings gleaming brightly.

“Well that wasn’t so bad,” Poe said, coming up so he was climbing the stairs next to him, the staircase wide enough for it. “They seemed perfectly pleasant to me. Though I noticed-”

Armitage looked at him and gave a single shake of his head, putting a finger to his lips in indication. Poe fell quiet. The walls had ears, did they?

The bedroom that Armitage led him into had that uncomfortably formal and unlived-in feeling that told Poe it was probably a guest room, the suspicion only confirmed when he spotted his luggage sitting neatly in one corner of the room.

“Is there anyone even here to overhear us besides your parents and Norrey?”

Armitage shrugged, and then pulled out his wand, giving it a little wave, his lips moving soundlessly. There was no visible effect, but Poe felt a pressure in his ears, like going up too fast on a broom.

“My parents and Norrey are more than enough for overhearing,” Armitage said. “What is it?”

Poe shrugged. “Nothing important. I was just surprised how tall you are after meeting your parents.”

Armitage frowned and Poe immediately realized that he had hit a sore spot, however, innocuous he had thought the observation. He reached out and put a hand on Armitage’s arm, but hung back, unsure what old injury he had just bumped.

“Maratelle is not my mother.”

“Oh,” Poe said, growing. “But, you always said-”

“I know,” Armitage said. “It would only upset her if I were to call her something else, and besides, I never knew my mother. My understanding is she lived here for a few years when I was very small, as my wet nurse and nanny, but I have no memories of her.”

“Armitage, that’s-”

“It’s fine, Poe, really. It’s been a long time since that has really bothered me. But best you don’t let on to father that you know. It will surely upset him. He’s worked very hard to quash the rumours of me being a bastard.”

“My lips are sealed,” Poe promised, stepping in to give him a kiss on the cheek. “As long as you’re all right.”

“I’m fine.”

~~~~~

The first few days of the visit ending up being much more pleasant than Hux had anticipated when he had agreed to come. Between Poe and his mother, father had no more opportunity to do anything untowards aside from the occasional glower. Whenever he was on the edge of some kind of rant, either mother would deescalate or Poe would step in with some story about his time as a professional Quidditch player, and Brendol Hux lived for those stories. An inside look at the life he had just been unable to attain and that his son had turned away from.

Even the Christmas dinner, with the four of them seated around a table much too big for them, went off without a hitch. It was a bit uncomfortable and awkward, but no more than could be said for any family that wasn’t very close to each other.

But it was too good to last. On Boxing Day was the big Christmas party, and guests started arriving to the house not long after lunch time. For an hour or so they were contained to the parlour and formal dining room next to it, but soon there were too many people to comfortably fit in that space and they started spilling out into the rest of the house. At that point there was really no avoiding the party.

Poe was excellent at it, circulating among the various guests and chatting with all of them. The fact that he was a —retired, Poe was quick to remind everyone—professional Quidditch player certainly endeared him to all of his parent’s friends, even though they many of them were the sorts of people who didn’t take too kindly to muggleborn wizards as a rule.

The afternoon wore on, and for a little Hux thought this party might finish without issue as well, making this the first visit with his parents in well over a decade—he and Poe were due to leave the next day—where there had been no rows between him and his father. 

It might have played out that way, if only Brendol and Pryde as some of his other old friends hadn’t gotten into the scotch. Afternoon wore into evening and the group around Brendol got louder and more raucous, stories from the Wizarding Wars growing grander with each retelling. Hux did his best to avoid it, but it was not to be.

He had just brought a sherry to old Lady Maul, who was much less vigorous than last time Hux had seen her some years ago and wasn’t really up to moving from her place by the fire every time she needed a refill. Norrey was around somewhere for that kind of thing, and several of the other guests had brought their house elves to help out, but there were still many more guests than house elves around, and Lady Maul had always been kinder to Hux than many of his father’s friends.

“I’m too old to worry about things like that anymore,” she always told him, without ever elaborating on the things she might be referring to. But that suited Hux just fine.

Unfortunately delivering the drink put him in view of his father. “Armitage! Armitage, come over here!” Hux put his most neutral expression on his face as he turned in the direction of the call.

“Yes father?” he said, walking closer, but stopping still outside the little group of them, keeping whatever distance he could. He glanced around, but neither Poe nor his mother were in the room, and he hardly had reason to call for him. He was an adult; surely he could have a conversation with his father without anything going wrong.

“I was just telling Pryde the story of when you were learning to ride your first broom,” Brendol said and Armitage gave a restrained nod. It was one of his father’s favourite stories to trot out when he was feeling particularly vindictive, because Hux had not been a natural flyer when he had graduated from a toy broom to a full sized one. “You were what, ten already?”

“Six, actually.”

“Yes, well,” Brendol waved off the correction. “I knew if Armitage was going to be a professional Quidditch player he needed to get on a broom sooner rather than later. He had been zipping around on toy brooms for ages already, so he had the basics of controlling them down. I put him on my Cleansweep, the latest model at the time. Went off like a shot practically the moment his feet got off the ground. He pulled up too hard and instead of stopping went straight up. Hell, must have gotten thirty yards into the air before he lost his grip and fell. Oh, how he flailed as he came down! Flailed right out of the way of the cushioning charm I set and knocked his head off the fountain on the front lawn.”

The story was greeted with uproarious laughs from those around his father.

“Need I remind you that if mother had not had Norrey apparate me straight to St. Mungo’s I likely would have died.” He didn’t remember all of the details of the accident, but he remembered not being able to see right for days while he was bed bound in the hospital, and the blood that stained the stone of the fountain for weeks even after he returned home, despite Norrey’s best efforts to remove it.

“Now, now, Armitage, all’s well that ends well,” Pryde said, still chuckling from the story, his face pink from the laughter and the scotch. “Obviously there was no permanent harm done, and everyone gets hurt as children.”

“Ah,” Armitage said. Anger was burning red hot in his chest because it was  _ always _ like this when it came to his father and his friends. “Well, then, perhaps we should tell some more stories about my childhood injuries.” His voice was cold, and if it shook slightly then no one listening seemed to notice.

“Please, go right ahead.”

“Hmmm, let’s see then…” Hux said. “Of course!” His eyes locked on his father’s. “How about the time you broke my arm so I knew what it would be like when I was hit by a bludger? And then you wouldn’t let anyone heal it for two days?”

Brendol’s face turned redder than the scotch could excuse. “Now you listen here, boy!” Brendol may have been starting to show his age but he was still in excellent shape and he surged out of his seat and stomped over, stopping right in front of Armitage, and poking him in the chest with one finger. “You were always such a nancy boy and there was nothing to do but to beat it out of your and turn you into a respectable man. Not that I succeeded at that either. Thirty-four and still no wife!”

Most of the conversation in the room had fallen quiet, eyes turning toward the spectacle unfolding in one corner. 

“Touch me, one more time…” Armitage’s voice was barely a whisper, but with his father’s hot breath on his face it didn’t need to be any more.

“And what?” Brendol snarled at him. “You’d never do anything.” He shoved Armitage on the shoulder, barely even hard enough to make him step back with one shoulder.

His wand came out of his pocket before he even considered whether or not it would be a good idea. There was the characteristic bang of the knockback jinx and Brendol Hux flew away from his son, very nearly landing on Pryde who jumped out of his seat just in time for Brendol to land on it, sprawled awkwardly.

~~

Poe and Maratelle were chatting in the dining room when the bang of magic issued from the nearby parlour. They exchanged worried looks and rushed away, Maratelle making it to the door of the parlour just in front of Poe.

“What is going on in here?!” Maratelle shrieked in surprise at the sight, which Poe quickly took in. Armitage, flushed bright red with his wand pointed at his father, who was sprawled in a chair in a position that said he hadn’t sat down there intentionally.

“Hey hey hey,” Poe said, stepping into the room and pulling out his own wand, though he was hoping that he wasn’t going to need to use it. “How about we all cool it, okay?” He reached out when he was close enough, putting his hand on the wrist where Hux held his wand, gently guiding it down. Hux’s breathing was loud and uneven; Poe didn’t know what happened but he didn’t like it.

“We’re not done here!” Brendol shouted, struggling a bit to get in a position to get his own wand.

“How about no,” Poe said, turning his wand towards Brendol, who fell still. “Come on, Armitage.” He put his arm around his waist and guided him out of the parlour and back upstairs to his room.

“I shouldn’t have done that,” Armitage said, sitting on the edge of his bed, wand clattering to the floor from limp fingers. “Father will never forgive me for that.”

“I don’t know what happened in there,” Poe said, sitting next to Armitage and leaning against him so they were pressed together from shoulder to knee. “But I know you. I’m sure he deserved it.”

“He makes me so angry,” Armitage said, though he sounded more defeated than anything now. “He does it on purpose; bringing up stuff from when I was a kid. But I shouldn’t have risen to the bait.”

“Hey, hey, this isn’t your fault,” Poe said. “You’re not responsible for the terrible things he did to you when you were a kid. That’s all on him.”

“But I shouldn’t have jinxed him.”

“You could have done a lot worse,” Poe said. “I’d say you showed admirable restraint. I’ve got half a mind to go back down there and hex him myself. I do a really good bat bogey hex, you know.”

“You’ll only make it worse if you do.”

“I won’t,” Poe promised. “Not even if it would be very satisfying.”

Armitage nodded slightly in acknowledgment. “I don’t know if we should stay here tonight.”

“Then let’s go!” Poe said, standing up and taking Armitage’s hands, pulling him back to his feet. “It’ll just take me a few minutes to pack my things and we can leave.”

“Your family isn’t expecting us until tomorrow.”

“They’re going to be thrilled to see us a day early. And we can always stay at my place overnight and go to my parents’ in the morning.”

“You have a place in America?”

“Yeah,” Poe said. “The MACUSA is a lot fussier than the Ministry so there was no way to get approval to get my parents’ house hooked into the Floo Network. So I have a house there. Being a professional Quidditch player paid well enough for it.”

“Oh, I see.” Hux said, nodding, but Poe could tell the details were all escaping him right now. Poe stepped up and kissed him.

“Get your things together. I’ll get my stuff and be back in a few minutes, okay?”

~~~~~

Norrey facilitated getting Mrs. Hux to meet them at the fireplace in the entrance hall that was connected to the Floo Network.

“Sorry for the trouble,” Hux said quietly.

“Don’t you worry about it,” she said. “Brendol will be in a terrible mood for a few days but it’s nothing I can’t handle. You two have a good rest of your holiday, you hear me.”

“Yes mother,” Hux said.

“It was a pleasure to meet you, really,” Poe said, giving Maratelle a quick hug, much to her surprise. He turned and grabbed the pot of Floo powder from the top of the mantle, holding it towards Hux, who took some. Poe grabbed his own handful before setting the pot back where it came from.

“Remember you have to say the country name or else you’re going to end up in an old lady’s house in Suffolk. She’s really nice but I don’t want to be responsible for getting ash all over her carpet again.”

“I know, you’ve told me,” Hux said, and Poe nodded.

“Okay, see you in a minute. And remember this is a lot longer trip by Floo than usual.”

“I know, Poe. Go on, I’m right behind you.”

Poe tossed the Floo powder into the fire and flames grew characteristically green. He stepped in, spoke his address, and then vanished. Hux waited several long seconds to make sure he had time to get out of his fireplace at home before tossing in his own powder and stepping in, speaking the address Poe had written out for him.

It was dim where he stepped out of the fireplace, but not impossible to see, with midday light streaming through a gap in the curtains. It was earlier here in America than where they’d left from, and they’d just gained five or six hours of a day, Hux wasn’t exactly sure.

“Welcome to my house,” Poe said, his hand brushing his arm, before he moved across the room. A small clicking noise and a light came to life in the ceiling.

“Electrics.”

“Mhm, my house is full of them, so mind your magic,” Poe said. “The lights aren’t bad but I fried a computer once by accident and it was a terrible time trying to recover the data.”

“What’s a computer?”

“I’ll show you,” Poe said, coming back across the room and taking his hand. “Leave the luggage, we'll deal with it later. You haven’t  _ lived _ until you’ve played video games.”

~~~~~

  
They ended up staying the night at Poe’s house, wanting to have the one night of privacy and the chance to get some extra sleep to hopefully make up for the time change. Breakfast was scant because there were only non-perishables inhis house right now, but they made do. It wasn’t much past ten when they left Poe’s going into the garage and getting into the SUV parked there.

“I have my housekeeper take it out every couple of weeks just to make sure it all stays working so it’ll be fine,” Poe said, adjusting the seat back when he climbed into the driver’s side.

“And you’re sure you know how to drive this thing?” Hux said warily.

Poe laughed. “I’m sure.” He turned the key in the ignition and the engine rumbled to life, making Hux look around warily. “It’s supposed to sound like that, it’s fine.” He pressed a button on the console above the rearview mirror and the garage door behind them rolled up, Hux turning at the noise.

“That could be magic,” Hux said.

“Just more electricity,” Poe promised. He backed them out of the garage, shut the door, and then took them out onto the street.

It wasn’t a long drive to Poe’s parents, usually just about ten minutes, but Poe stretched it out to fifteen by taking the ‘scenic route’ driving past places nearby he had spent time as a child and pointing them out to Hux. Parks weren’t really only the table with half a foot of snow on the ground, but they were nice to look at.

Poe pulled into a driveway that already had three cars in it, shutting off the engine and pulling out the key. “Ready?”

Hux frowned. “We’re here, whether I’m ready or not.”

“It’s going to be fine,” Poe said, leaning over and giving him a kiss on the cheek and a squeeze on the knee. “My family is going to love you.”

“Let’s go say hello then,” Hux agreed, nodding.

They got out of the car and Hux jumped when Poe pressed the lock button and the horn beeped. “It’s supposed to do that too,” Poe said. “Come on.” He held out his hand and held Hux’s firmly as they walked up to the front door, even as they came up the two steps. Poe knocked on the door and it was only a moment before a figure appeared through the frosted glass of the window.

The woman who opened the door was coloured just like Poe, with dark curly hair and warm skin, and the same bright eyes. She was wearing an apron over her clothes and had a smudge of flour on her face.

“Hi, mom,” Poe said, grinning widely. “You’ve got a little something on your face.” He reached out to brush it off, but she swatted away his hand.

“Oh, never mind that!” she said, stepping forward and sweeping them both into a hug, one arm around each of their waists, though the top of her head only came up to the middle of Hux’s chest. “Poe, Armitage! Welcome home.”

**Author's Note:**

> -waves sheepishly- I don't usually write fanfic but when one of your best friends is organizing Gingerpilot week there's nothing to do but chip in and write something! I knocked this out in like a week despite knowing about it months in advance because what is time management. I also tend towards long sprawling novels and not relatively short pieces like this, so it was pretty weird all around for me to write. Hopefully it came out all right and you all enjoyed!


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